Will Rahul lose LS membership? Here is what the law says

With Rahul Gandhi being convicted in a defamation case for his 'Modi' remarks, the question that arises is whether or not the Representation of People Act would be applicable to him or not.

Rahul Gandhi was sentenced to two years in jail. His conviction has however been kept in abeyance, granting him time to file an appeal against the same. He was given 30 days time to file and this would mean that his membership of the Lok Sabha will remain intact until the higher court decides on the matter.

The Supreme Court in its verdict of 2013 in the Lily Thomas vs Union of India case ruled that a Member of Parliament or Member of the Legislative Assembly and a Member of the Legislative Council who is convicted of a crime and given a minimum punishment of two years imprisonment loses membership of the House with immediate effect.

The Supreme Court's judgment was in contrast to the earlier position, in which a convicted member held on to their seats until they exhausted all their judicial remedy. The court had also declared Section 8(4) of the Representation of People Act, which allowed elected representatives three months to appeal their conviction.

Section 500 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) which deals with defamations says," whoever defames another shall be punished with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine of both."

In 2013 an attempt was made to overturn the decision of the Supreme Court. The Representation of People (Second Amendment and Validation) Bill 2013 was introduced in the Rajya Sabha. The proposed amendment stated that representatives would not be disqualified immediately after conviction. The government also filed a review petition in the Supreme Court, but the same was not successful. A few days before the fodder scam verdict, the government of India attempted bringing in a Bill into effect as an ordinance. However it was Rahul Gandhi, then the vice president of the Congress who made his opinion clear in a press meet.

"It is complete nonsense. It should be torn up and thrown away," he had said. At that time the leaders of the Opposition had said that there is complete confusion in the government and called for the resignation of then prime minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh. The ordinance and the Bill were withdrawn on October 2 2013.

Since the verdict of the Supreme Court, there have been 11 elected representatives who have been disqualified due to a conviction.

The first was Pappu Kalani, the MLA from Ulhasnagar who was convicted in 2013. Jagdish Sharma of the JD(U) was convicted in the fodder scam. Lalu Prasad Yadav too was disqualified after being convicted in the fodder scam. The others part of this list were Rasheed Masood, Asha Rani, Enos Ekkka, Babanrao Galop, T M Selvaganapathy, Suresh Halvankar and Kamal Kishore.

The most famous in this list was J Jayalalithaa. The AIADMK leader and former chief minister of Tamil Nadu was convicted in a disproportionate assets case for four years and fined Rs 100 crore. She had to step down as the chief minister and her membership remained disqualified until the Karnataka High Court reversed the verdict of the trial court. She went on to become the CM once again. However during her tenure, she passed away and at that time the appeal was pending in the Supreme Court. Due to her passing away, the case was abated against her.